I was just about to go drown myself in Pabst and orange juice when a tipster sent me an email with the words “Hunter, What Do You Think?” and a link to the following vid. I can’t believe what I just watched. It appears to be a clip from Spike Jonze‘s Where the Wild Things Are, and while the visual effects for the Wild Thing’s face are off, as is the voice work (thinkShowbiz Pizza: The Movie), this would go along with the reasons we’ve heard for the film being pushed back to 2009. As for the child actor playing the character of Max in the clip, is this the same young actor, Max Records (real name), that we’ve seen in the official still from the film? It’s hard to say, but my gang of Gchatters from coast to coast, including Peter, say it doesn’t look like him. I agree.

So, is the clip a fake? And if so, who would make such a precise fake, clearly as an inside joke, as there is little doubt that most of this was shot on film? A friend in New York says he heard last night that The Kid America Club, a ragtag group of New York hipster party animals who utilize similar wild thing-ish costumes and have considerable resources, may be behind this. What the hell? I don’t buy it, but if it’s fake, those maniacal hipsters are prime suspects as they knowingly operate in the same concentric circles as Jonze (and purportedly had talks with Showtime for their own show a few years ago).

The clip has a voyeuristic, sun-spotted quality and there is an inherent weirdness present that would go along with what sneak preview audiences have reported. The first few seconds even contain music that sounds like it’s taken from Beck’s Odelay, another Jonze bud. I am at once bothered by how unfinished this is and totally digging it. Throw some Karen O on the creative pyre, and I’m beginning to think that Jonze and Dave Eggers, who wrote the screenplay, may have quite a bit of deranged magic in store for us, much to Hollywood’s chagrin. And after There Will Be Blood, this is the only children’s movie suitable for Paul Dano.